


Another Chance: Settling In

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Series: Another Chance (Pern/DCU fusion) [8]
Category: DCU - Comicverse, Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Aliens Make Them Do It, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Minor Character Death, Multi, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-19
Updated: 2012-12-19
Packaged: 2017-11-21 12:30:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/597792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of the Fall, the beginnings of a world have a solid foundation. And a minor blip in history is smoothed out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Chance: Settling In

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for the support. This is the last of the weekly updates, but we have more planned!

Only once the dragons were curled in various balls of numbed, sated, chromatic lumps on the courtyard did the crowd begin to let the riders and leaders drift away from the impromptu celebration. Ongola, Benden, Boll, Hanrahan, Nietro, and Harkenon represented Admin while each wing leader and second attended for the dragonriders, leaving behind twelve riders to still be fussed over by the appreciative crowd.

"You've proven our faith so strongly, Sean Connell," Paul began, once they had reached the closest of the conference rooms.

"And Sorka, and all of you!" Emily cut in, knowing that the tendency to focus on Sean as the spokesperson was slightly undermining to the cooperative effort the young people had made. He was an incredibly strong natural leader, but each of them had been very important in the process.

"Thank you," Sean said, looking from the admiral to the governor, standing straight-backed despite the salve-slathered burns on his skin and the burned spots in his flying gear. "It's been... a rough few weeks."

"And a long couple of hours for you all, so why don't the lot of you pull up seats and let us old folks do the same," Zi suggested, waving a hand at the chairs scavenged out of the shuttles. 

Dick snorted his opinion of 'old', but he'd taken a burn across the thigh from a wind-caught tangle, and he wasn't going to object to anything that let him get his weight off of his leg. They moved, a little un-coordinated because their dragons were all so soundly asleep, and settled into the chairs on one side of the long table. Sean and Sorka had the center seats, David on his left and Nyassa on her right, while he and Peter settled next to David and Tarrie and Rosabelle went next to Nyassa. 

Bay moved around the table to them, still smiling widely (and hiding the tracks of tears on her cheeks) as she laid her fingers against un-scored, un-burned bits of their shoulders. "We're so proud of you," she murmured before she went back to take a spot near Pol. 

Paul had taken center seat, Emily on his left and Zi on his right. Red had opted to sit on Zi's side, while Pol and Bay settled by Emily. "That was the biggest surprise for the better I have had since we arrived on this planet, even more than Ju telling me we were expecting," he told them all. "I had no idea you were that close to having an operational team, Sean."

Dick didn't let his mouth quirk the way it wanted, and he kept his gaze on the Admin contingent as he listened for Sean's reaction to that. 

"It's incredibly recent," Sean said, "and we're still working out some of the details 'on the fly', as it were. But when there was going to be Fall _here_ , we had to come. We didn't see any of the sleds out, what's happened?" 

"That was my call," Zi told Sean. "We need to conserve sled power, did not have either fodder or crops to guard yet -- and may not for some years yet -- but we need to be able to travel this continent and back to the Southern one. As it stands, we are possibly going to be without sleds for even emergency travel inside of three years," he said.

"So I authorized the pull in of all exterior assets," Paul said with a sigh. "It's not optimum, but we had to make some form of decision."

Dick knew how bad the sleds were, and he still could not but help but wince at that outside estimate. Zi nodded at him, faint, slight motion, and then Emily spoke up. 

"I have to ask, Sorka, Nyassa... why are you queenriders using flamethrowers?"

Sorka's ears matched her own hair as her temper came back up, but it was Rosabelle who answered before Sean could get in his platitude. "Because that genetic witch sabotaged half our force by trying to make them stay at home as egg layers!" the volatile wingsecond told them, her dark eyes sparking hot.

"We don't know for certain," Sean temporized, but Sorka's glare reminded him of his promise. "Pol, Bay... can you both go over the coding, line by line, and look for a gender discriminant? All the queens barfed up their rock, hardly touched by stomach chemicals, and have shown no sign of willingness to try again. I hope it's a late maturity thing..." he added, but all four women had the look of resignation to a cruel fate.

"She could be so traditional," Bay sighed. "There's a reason I eventually just let her assume Pol was in charge because she did not speak as easily to me as she did to him or Sean during those weeks. I think it is part of what keeps Wind Blossom from succeeding, as if Kitti saw her gender as a handicap and subconsciously shorted the training."

Pol snorted, shrugging one shoulder slightly. "You and I knew better, Bay, but it made her easier to work with -- and yes, Sean. We'll go back through the code as carefully as we can. There are places we don't fully understand what she was doing, but if we can find something that's only present in the queen ova, we'll have a chance of picking it out -- if she really did. I don't want to believe she would have, but..." 

"But, indeed," Emily said, her mouth drawn tight. Dick relaxed a little for the signs that Admin was as furious as Dinah had been when they'd told her, and stayed quiet, leaning back against his chair.

Paul rested one elbow on the table for a moment, thumb and middle finger pressing to the bridge of his nose, before he lifted his head again, looking at the queenriders with his blue eyes darkened. "That puts you young women in even more danger -- I saw how low you were flying against the Thread. If she really did what you think, I am sorry... and grateful that you've decided not to let it stop you."

"We fly," Sorka said. "As the coding does call for our queens to be decidedly in the minority, I believe we will eventually be the next to last defense before ground crew takes it. But that's once our ladies are breeding up several clutches' worth of dragons."

"Until then, Admiral," Sean said. "We only fly stake Falls, only to the boundaries of said stakes plus five klicks. As we add more trained and mature riders, we will go further."

"Five klicks is the kill distance on grounded Thread," Bay reminded the Admiral and Governor.

"Then that's a reasonable space to extend past the boundaries, and given what I saw of your work today, that sounds like a good blend of necessary protection for our land and your dragons," Benden said, nodding for a moment. 

"Omaha will be our stamina-tester," Sean said, a twitch of a smile at his lips. "After going over all the inhabited stakes, they are definitely the largest, but they also are the current breadbasket stake."

"At least the marshes take over for us," Dick said with a grin, still so damn glad first Fall had been over his family's lands.

"The thing we now need most, Admiral and Governor, is a staff," Nyassa told both of them. "Medics, hunters, gardeners, herders... We don't have enough time to provide for the young dragons who need to come back with us, and we need to have staff on hand to tend injuries when we bounce home from a bad hit. Because eventually it will happen, and we've drilled our minds to always reach for home when things go wrong, to protect ourselves from getting lost."

"Is that possible?" Bay asked, shocked. 

"We nearly lost Duluth and Marco because of a lack of visual," Sean said, to which Zi nodded.

"So that's what happened that day," the former serviceman said. 

Sorka nodded. "We'd already had a little bit of practice going _between_ , but when that sled came down on top of them, Duluth just jumped -- and without somewhere to 'go', he couldn't get back out. The dragons and our most strongly empathic riders realized, thank Everything, and managed to project a strong enough visual for him to get them back out... but it was terrifyingly close." 

"Like Nyassa said," Sean took over from his mate, "we've learned to always have 'home' at least at the back of our minds, to always know that's where we need to go... but when that happens in combat, we've got to have a good trauma team home at the caves, or making it back out of _between_ isn't going to matter at all." 

"Very sound reasoning," Red told him. "I'll go through my apprentices, see who's most surgically qualified, and put together a team under Chuck and Sue. They've been looking to reestablish down South; it turns out Sue's a little claustrophobic, and Chuck's not much better," he added. "Your caves have more headroom than the apartments up here."

"We had more natural openings," Sorka pointed out, having looked at the amount of cutting Cobber and Munson had had to do to make individual caves off the larger caverns that made Fort work as a municipality.

"As for the young dragons," Pol said. "They can't go between yet."

"Rachel said that as long as an adult dragon and their rider are with them, they should be able to be carried between," David said. "We've already done this. We can help them better than the notes your staff made about us. And the dragons need community."

"They're incredibly social beings, always grooming or cuddling with each other when they don't have anything else to do," Tarrie said, her mouth curving just a little in an amused smile. "Porth enjoys the warmth, and I think that's true of all of them. And while we can't hear everything they say to each other, we know they _are_ almost always talking back and forth, and to the fire-lizards. That's another reason the hatchlings and their riders need to come with us." 

Bay nodded at all those points. "While I will miss having them around, I understand that. All of you will take good care of them."

Sean relaxed slightly, now that there was no argument on that matter. The young would be going home with them, would be safe there.

"Is there anything else you need?" Emily asked. "When your numbers increase, we'll have to have locations for you to expand, I know. I also think we need to establish the amount of meat and foods and other needed items that our population needs to produce per dragon and rider, to support your infrastructure when you are too busy during the Passes."

"Definitely other locations," Sean said, nodding. "We're not going to give up Southern, but once there're more of us, it would be a lot better to have people up here so that the time change isn't so disorienting. I know there's been some work done up in the caldera, which makes great sense. That'd be a base closest to you here in Admin, as well as most of the population. Telgar is working on exploring some mining areas to the east, isn't he? That would be another place to expand to, if there's a suitable place." 

Dick waited a heartbeat, making sure Sean was done for the moment, then spoke up. "Anyone know a really good photographer? Or a really excellent artist? We have to have good visuals of all of the major stakes so that we can go _between_ to them. We all keep notebooks of landmarks, but it would be very helpful if we could have good, large-scale images to put up in the Caves." 

"Speaking of the Caves, does Pierre have anyone in his kitchens he could spare, that would be willing to -- preferably that would really enjoy -- getting meals on for the lot of us, Emily?" Nyassa asked. "I mean, all of us are pretty willing to help, but then again, after Fall, all any of us really want to do is fall over asleep..." 

"I am certain Pierre will find someone perfect for you," Emily promised. "Cleaning and cooking staff, medical personnel, herdsmen... unless the Havers can double duty there, Red?"

"Pretty certain the apprentices can get their hands on duty with the herd," Red said. "Sean, that one small bow shaped field... wouldn't take much to seed it with fodder grass, and fence it off for your herds, the way I remember it. Not too far from your main cave."

"Was thinking that. We've been keeping the cull herd you gave us in one of the sunnier caves, but yeah, now that we can flame, we need to make a pen. And one that's big enough to not rile all the stock up when a dragon needs to eat." 

Dick could see the edge of puzzled unease underneath Sean's pleasure and focus, and he was pretty sure he knew where it was coming from. Sean wasn't used, at all, to not having to fight to get whatever he wanted, and here Admin -- who weren't exactly their favorite people all of the time -- was nearly handing exactly what they needed to them on pretty much a silver platter. Honestly, _he_ wasn't sure what he thought of that, either. Then again, they had just proven exactly how much they were worth.

"Alright, I think that gives us work to do, and you young people need rest," Paul told Sean, reaching over to shake his hand on the deal. "You're welcome to stay here for that rest, after everyone's eaten."

"That might be best, but someone tell Leonid we're safe," Sorka told the Admiral. Rosabelle snorted softly. 

"He would be worrying," she said.

"Doesn't he always?" Peter asked, leaning back from the table enough to smile at her, teasing and amused. 

"Oh, shove it," she said, her eyes narrowing at him a little before she slid to her feet, stretching out riding-sore muscles. 

"Da," Sorka asked, "where are you and Ma living now? I want to see Mick." 

"Of course you do," Red said, grinning as he stood up. "You and Sean come on."

"I'll call Leonid," Zi promised. "All of you... thank you!" His voice was thick with emotion now that business was done.

"It's our calling," Nyassa told him, following others the out to go find her father.

Dick stopped at Zi's side, squeezing his shoulder for a moment. "Thank you, Zi, for keeping faith with us. See you in the morning, if not at dinner," he said, then took off after Red, Sean, and Sorka, calling out, "Hey now, hold up!" 

"Stars forbid you don't get to hold your godson," Sean snorted at his second. "Bets it's where we find your other half, even," he added.

"Probably, the wretch," Dick agreed, "getting the jump on all of us while we were handling business." 

"He's not the lazy one for nothing," Sorka teased, knowing good and well it was far from true, but Roy shammed lazy well.

Red didn't shake his head, but it raised Sean even higher in his eyes, to come from such a traditional background and handle Dick's relationship so easily, naturally even.

****

_~11 years post Landing, nearly 3 years post First Fall_

Dinah studied the map of Southern Continent pinned in the main hall of the complex at Omaha. She still maintained her own house, but the barracks had been massively expanded over the time that her stake had become the center of Southern's civilization. She was looking at the roads completed, mainly the one to Paradise and the offshoot of it that went to Kahrain Cove and the Dragon Caves, as well as those that were planned to run to all the rest of the stakes still operating. She frowned, seeing again that Honshu had not sent any updates beyond Thread readiness and survival post-Fall. She really was depending on the stakes to work on the roads from their sides as well; she only had so many bodies here, even with Slade's engineering school now set on the property.

"Ma?" 

The boy she was idly jiggling on her hip was favored with a smile; words were a recent thing for him, and it still made her light up to hear it.

"Just thinking, Dee." She snugged him in tighter to her body so she could walk up the stairs to Slade's office, thinking she needed to get him involved.

Her husband looked up at her as the door swung open, smiling for seeing her and their son before the look on her face made his expression flatten a little. "Love? And hello Dee." 

"DA!" The boy wiggled out of his momma's grasp and down her leg to the floor, toddling over to the man to be lifted up in his arms. Dinah shook her head at their son, but sat in one of his client chairs.

"I'm worried about Honshu. They haven't responded to any of my requests for help with the roads, and outside of Threadfall... which the dragons don't fly at stake request... we have no word from them at all. They're not importing, but they're also not exporting. I know it's supposed to be a very rich cave system there, with all the space they could use, but... " She spread her hands helplessly. "I don't like it. Ju moved north, and Ju seemed to be the only one who could reach them."

"Chio-Chio was good with her, too, but she moved north even earlier," Slade said as he picked up their son and brought him up to his lap, running his fingers through Duncan's hair as he listened to his wife. "I didn't know Ito at all, but that... does seem strange. As many disagreements as we've had with Fort over stakeholder autonomy, I don't really want to breach their borders without invitation... but at the same time, you're right. I mean, Mary had a hard enough time just in the year before he died, it's been over two. ...I wonder what Tom Patrick might have to say about that kind of isolation, even self-imposed." The head of the colony psychologists wasn't always Slade's favorite person, but the man was incredibly fair-minded. 

"Think we can get Dick and Roy to take Duncan the next long rest they get? I think they've got a eight day free soon. Or maybe just ask Dick to take you out there, so we don't have to run the wagon?" Dinah wanted the mystery solved, but she really didn't want to drive cross continent, over rough terrain, in their ethanol-engined vehicle.

"No sense in us driving that kind of distance," Slade said. "Get Roy to keep Duncan, see if Shareth can carry double -- no more than you weigh, it shouldn't be a problem for him -- long enough for us to at least try to visit her. Yeah, that sounds like a plan. Hopefully everything's all right, but... I'd rather know than not." 

"Alright. I worry too much, everyone says it, but she shouldn't be so alone." She stood to go, holding a hand out for Duncan to come back to her.

Duncan, for his part, wrapped his arms around his father's neck, holding on. 

"Apparently he wants to stay with me a little while," Slade said, amused, and smiled at her. "Once he's tired of watching me prod at how the hell to set up a decent glassworks on the tech level we've got, I'll bring him back to you."

"Okay." She left her son and husband, going down to Jake's office so she could contact her boys up at the Dragon Caves.

It took only moments for Leonid to answer. "Da, Omaha? Caves here, what can we do for you?" 

"If Dick or Roy are around, Leonid, I'd like to talk to them."

It was a few moments before he answered. "Sorry, but the board says they're both out. I'll get one of the queens to pass the word that they need to swing by before they come home, if that suits you?" 

"Suits me fine, Leonid," she told him. "I think I may have a tuber that will work for your vodka recipe in the latest batch I've got, by the way. It's the closest to a true potato I've come yet," she said. "I'll make sure the boys get you some when I harvest."

"Spasibo, Dinah." She could nearly see the grin on his face from the tone of his voice, "I appreciate that. Anything else on your mind?" 

"No, that will be it," she said. "Omaha out." She flipped the switch and then looked at Jake. "I may be gone for a little while soon. If anyone needs me urgently, send a fire lizard." She felt Hope flick her tail and reached up to stroke her friend's soft hide. "Otherwise, take a message, once I leave."

"Of course," Jake agreed, glancing up at her, concern on his face, but he didn't say anything else. 

Dinah walked out, then went to find the dean of her students. She was still pleasantly surprised that her school was drawing so many more students than the northern school begun by the Radamanths, but then, Northern Continent people had a colder climate to deal with, which limited the variety of plants to a degree.

Getting things set up for her absence was easy enough; she only taught the advanced techniques now, since her first year students had long since proven themselves adequate to more basic teaching and hands-on classes. She was not as distant as she might once have been with them, either; knowing they were making a way of life that worked under such extreme peril had given her the confidence to actually get to know her students and staff more openly.

Slade, too, had students under their feet and roof, mechanically and mathematically minded young people that wanted to learn engineering -- and wanted a warmer climate and more space. The sprawling set of buildings that dotted their stake were not at all what she'd envisioned for her new home, but all of it was beautiful to her. Even the massive sets of shutters that protected her fields -- test plots and perennials, mainly, now that the dragons flew against Thread so well -- were beautiful and familiar now. 

Felicia Grant smiled at her as she neared her open door, calling out a cheerful, "G'day, Dinah, what's up?" 

"I've got some business off-stake. Use the advanced students to ride the fields and spot check for blight and insects," Dinah told her. "I shouldn't be too long away, but just in case... I'm certain if field check doesn't use their energy enough, Slade's got some thing that needs strong backs."

Felicia laughed, shaking her head in amusement. "Oh, I'm sure I can keep them busy, Dinah. Don't I always?" 

"So you do!" Dinah gave her a big smile. "You do good work. So glad to have you here." She then gave a little nod and went to pack for her son, so he could go stay with Roy if Roy wanted to take him to the Caves instead of stay here.

It was a couple of hours before Trouble and Chakano popped into the air above her head in her office, cheeping happy greetings to Hope and dropping onto either shoulder to nuzzle at her. 

"Hi there, boys," she told them, rubbing eye ridges as she carefully stood up. Hope looked at them in amused affection for having taken her perch and opted to glide along as Dinah walked out of her office and toward the door of the Center in order to greet her grown boys outside. At least she assumed they'd still be out there, and likely assaulted by a toddler if he had seen the dragons winging in.

They were, in fact, in the flagstone courtyard, and Roy was in the midst of tossing Duncan up into the air when she walked into view. He caught his 'little brother' easily, balancing him on one hip, and grinned widely at her, walking over to wrap his other arm around her. Dick jogged over to the knot of them, wrapping his arm around her waist in a moment's hug before he let go. 

"Hey," he said, looking around. "Where's -- "

"Right here, kid," Slade answered from the other side of the dragons before he came around into view, and Dick grinned a little wider. "Hey there." 

"Hey Slade," Roy said, not giving up the way Duncan was wrapped around his side. "What's going on, Di?" 

"Need help with a problem," Dinah told him. "Come on inside the house, and I'll talk with you there." She took a minute to go to the dragons, though, and rubbed both their eye ridges. _Hello Brileth and Shareth. It is always good to see you both._

_Hello,_ came back to her in two-part harmony, voices sounding like Roy and Dick's through wind-tunnels, as always.

"Wish more people were as open to the dragons as Dinah," Roy said wistfully. "Getting to be where some are just too shy, or scared the dragons hear every thought, or.... Well, it's people being people, but the dragons don't understand it."

Slade snorted quietly. "How often does anybody understand people?" he asked, his tone wry, before they headed to the house. 

"Point," came from Dick as they walked in the door. "But I'm with Roy on wishing more people were easier with them. It's not as though we try to be imposing or anything -- do we?" 

"You? Imposing?" Slade rolled his eye at the thought, still amused. "Sean, now, can be another story to some people. But anyway. Dinah's worried, I'll let her start telling you why while I grab drinks." 

Dinah shot him a look of gratitude, then dropped down in her favorite chair, not protesting that Duncan wasn't immediately in her lap. She took a deep breath, then looked at the two riders. "Honshu is my concern. They have only contacted to say that they are safe from Fall, and have not answered my queries for assistance in making the roads we need."

"Huh, we don't fly Fall there; Sean hates it, but autonomy," Roy said, as Duncan played with the elaborate knots the jacket Roy had draped on the corner of the sofa.

"I know," Dinah said, shaking her head. "It should only be Kenjo's widow, Ito, and their children, which is one of the reasons I'm so worried. I remember hearing that she didn't want to be a burden on Landing, but there's no reason I can think of for her to have pulled so far away. I don't want to do anything officially, since she has the right to her privacy and her stake, but I just.... if I had a sled, I'd go to see her, just as a neighbor, but I don't." 

"And the roads don't go there yet," Dick said, knowing how far the roads had progressed. "So you need a lift. Sharrie doesn't mind, and it would be easy enough. As far out as she is, you want to aim for her morning?"

"I'd prefer it, yes," Dinah said. "Roy, do you mind keeping Duncan? Slade's in the middle of a major project currently, and doesn't need to have to keep up with mister-manages-to-climb- inside-everything." She smiled fondly at her scamp of a son who had a knack for getting places only Hope could find him in.

"Of course I don't mind," Roy said, rolling his eyes heavenward at Dinah's moment of ridiculousness. "When do I ever mind keeping the scamp?" 

"Slade," her husband said, "is going with you -- as long as Shareth can manage that, Dick? -- just in case you're right and there's something seriously wrong." He remembered a list of names that Admin had kept, people that were anything but content with the policies governing the colony, and too many years underground on Iota. A woman alone but for her small children...

Dinah looked over at him, blinked, then realized she had misunderstood him when he'd had her set up the trip. She smiled at him brightly, so pleased; she'd been afraid that she'd get blown off as just another woman, but Slade had always known the right note to hit with the women of various -- to her mind -- throwback cultures where the women were so subservient.

"Okay, so I misheard your intent by ride double," she admitted to him. She looked over at Dick. "What does Shareth say? Push comes to shove, Roy could take Duncan to Leonid... he's deft with the little ones your ladies keep managing to have... and all four of us go."

Dick's expression went distant for a moment, then he laughed, shaking his head. "He says as long as you sit in front of me and Slade sits behind, it's no problem. He's carried far heavier loads than you two, he reminds me." 

Dinah laughed softly. "If he just compared me to a bag of firestone..." she teased.

"Much as I am going to be curious, I'm just as glad to not go," Roy said, playing with Duncan in his lap. "I don't _get_ people who let someone else make all their decisions."

"Me either, Roy," Dinah told him.

"Pretty sure that makes four of us -- but then, we knew that, didn't we?" Slade asked, before he glanced at Dick again. "So, when do we go?"

"They're far west, so it wouldn't be that far into their day for us to go now," Dick said. "I can look at your sat map files to refresh my memory."

"I've got a copy here," Dinah said, smoothly rising and going to the desk she had traded for made of the one plant on Pern that seemed impervious to Thread, the massive skybrooms of the Northern Continent. She rummaged in her files, then brought back the picture of Honshu she had. Before she handed it over, she looked at a distinct but small point of reference, sending Hope to that. "And she'll bring back a recent picture of it, since Shareth takes fire-lizard imagery well."

"With as clearly as Hope thinks, why wouldn't he?" Dick asked, shifting around to see the image Dinah had. "Man, he went for nearly all the way to the tundra-line, didn't he?" 

"Almost," Slade agreed. 

Hope burst back into the air above the desk and dove into the hood behind Dinah's shoulders, cheeping angrily as her tail wrapped firmly around her person's throat.

"Oh Hope." Dinah twisted a bit, then had to let Slade help her get the firelizard out of the hood and into her hands, stroking and soothing as best as she could. Getting the tail to let go was always the trick, and Hope had refused for several long moments, until Duncan started fussing because of her agitation.

Roy privately filed away that little piece of high empathic ability on his 'little brother' for years down the road, and shushed him gently.

"She is absolutely livid... scared?" Dinah tried to concentrate on the impressions enough to be helpful.

Hope cheeped stridently, foreclaws wrapped tightly around her person's wrists, her eyes spinning red and yellow with distress. Her thoughts were chaotic, flashing impressions of cave faces and _badness_ that made little sense. 

Dick saw the confusion on Dinah's face and the stress in Hope, and reached out for Shareth. _Love, can you ask Hope what is wrong?_

 _Of course,_ Shareth answered, and Dick could half-feel it as his bronze reached for the little queen, trying to understand what was wrong. Moments later, he heard Shareth growl from the window outside, as much as he felt the flare of anger surge in his own chest. 

_The place she went feels... bad. Suffering, pain, dismay. Unhappy hatchlings, grief. That is_ wrong, _rider!_

"We need to be moving, I take it?" Slade asked, already sliding up from where Dinah was. "Love..."

"I'm still going," Dinah told him, a firm flash of determination in her eyes.

"I know that; I was going to ask you to see if she'll stay with Trouble," Slade replied easily. There was never any doubt that she'd go in his mind; they were equal partners and both had fought an ugly war in their own way.

"Hope... go to Trouble," Dinah coaxed, walking toward the waiting brown who wanted to curl with his queen and make her happy again.

"Shareth says Honshu 'feels bad'. That there's suffering, pain, dismay. Unhappy 'hatchlings' -- not sure if he means human or fire-lizard -- and grief. He's **very** upset, but then, you probably heard that." Dick said as he got to his own feet, his dragon's anger seething in his own chest.

"Did," Roy said, watching his brown curl protectively around his queen once Hope was willing to be parted from Dinah to settle on the back of the couch with him. "Bri's getting that way, too." 

"Brileth can just settle down," Dinah said firmly. "You have a baby to take care of, and he doesn't need to have you riled up," she added, dropping a kiss on Duncan's hair, before ruffling Roy's hair too.

"We'll be back soon." Slade slipped his riding jacket on, kept by the door for when a dragon had to convey him somewhere. He then held Dinah's out for her, after she flipped her hood up to protect her ears.

Roy shifted into that slide of her hand for a moment, then settled back in with the baby. "They don't like it when children are unhappy," he said at Dinah as she pulled her jacket on, explaining what was wrong with his dragon. "But he's settling some, knowing you're going." 

Dick pulled his own riding jacket back on and headed out through the house to his dragon, pressing full-length against Shareth's foreleg and neck, arms wrapping around his neck and chest. "Easy, love, easy..."

 _That place is wrong,_ Shareth insisted, low and unhappy rumble still in his chest. _It needs to stop being wrong. We are going to stop it, yes?_

"That's the plan, Sharrie-love, Dick told his dragon gently, stroking his hide. "Give me a leg up, dear, so that we can get everyone settled." 

Dinah waited for Dick to get settled, running a hand along Shareth's neck. She was anxious, even angry with herself for not having brought this to attention far earlier. Yet, she was a private woman in a lot of ways, and it was satellite-living that made her very touchy about intruding on others' way of life.

"We'll fix it now," Slade murmured in her ear, before helping her up in front of Dick. He knew his wife's way of thinking quite well.

Dick looked down at his 'father' and teacher, his blue eyes gone dark behind his goggles. "Hate having to ask this, hate even needing to think it, but... have you got a spare pistol handy? I don't carry anything but knives anymore. I mean, Chaka and Sharrie can normally deal with anything a knife can't." 

"Don't ask questions you don't need to know answers to, Dick. Dragonriders have to be impartial and unattached to stake-politics and other issues," Slade told him firmly, refusing to answer that he always had a pistol on him when off the stake. It was too old a habit, and there had been a few people that had proven a need to be cautious. Not to mention the odd mutates that sometimes appeared in the wilds, especially up closer to Landing.

"Some days," Dick muttered, "you are a pain. If you think I want to go into human-style trouble without more than a knife, you have _lost your mind_." 

"And I am saying you will not be going into it," Slade informed his near-son. "You cannot jeopardize all that you and Sean and the rest have built. I want you to land us, and then go wait where you can see, as an observer only."

Dinah could just make out that conversation... and as much as she hated it, could see the logic of it. It was bad enough that they could get dragonrider aid so swiftly; for Pern to evolve the way it needed to, the riders did need to be impartial and aloof. Otherwise, it would be far too easy for them to become feared, as they did ride the most powerful 'weapons' in existence on the planet.

Dick glared down at him for a long moment, his jaw locking tight, then he nodded once, sharp quick jerk of his head, and put his hand down for Slade. 

Slade took it, swinging up with an assist from Dick and Shareth both. He did give the rider a hard squeeze as he settled his arms around Dick's waist; he understood the desire to act, but he would always protect his boys from having to jeopardize their positions. Dinah settled back against Dick, lending her presence as a calming anchor for the younger man.

Dick leaned back into that solid grip after a moment -- Slade was right, no matter how much sitting back out of... whatever this was... grated against his nerves -- and wrapped one arm around Dinah's waist to stabilize her. "Alright, Shareth, let's go." 

Shareth gathered himself and sprang off the ground, wings beating hard as he worked against the unusual weight on his back, climbing to what would be tree-top height if not for Thread's predations, and as Dick held their destination firmly in mind, he winked out. 

They blinked back in well above Honshu, and instincts nearly thirty years buried had Dick looking for another teleportation-point in the same moment they came out. He found one that would put them well away from sight and gave it to Shareth, who made the jump _between_ easily. From that point, he was willing to ask Shareth to find a place to land -- never difficult on land they didn't Fly over -- and the bronze did, dropping to the ground. 

"Such a strong bronze," Dinah cooed at the dragon, rubbing the neck ridge closest to her as they landed. She waited for Slade to slide off, then got herself down, into his arms as he waited for her. It helped steady her, feeling all his strength and warmth there, before she actually looked around for the vestiges of plant life. The signs she saw indicated it stayed cool enough down here through enough of the Falls to mitigate the deadly Thread, and a low-growing grass was present in patches, looking a bit like prairie grasses normally did... thin and wiry.

"Cold air above, ecology set for fast growing plants anyway?" Slade asked her, somewhat teasing, because he could tell she was evaluating the viability of the area.

"Yes, which means if she has animals, they have forage between Falls."

"This area is less hit, anyway," Dick said. "The winter lasts longer here, so much of it would freeze."

Slade nodded, his hand sliding along Dinah's back before he let go of her, considering their route towards the main cavern -- and Chakano and Major lit on either of his shoulders, both sets of jaws grinding with a long-familiar sound. 

Dinah looked at the pair, then closed her eyes, reaching out... and came up empty on the feeling of fire-lizards. "They don't inhabit the area like they do elsewhere. Too cold."

Chakano cheeped questioningly at her, and she shook her head. "No, only get your friends if it gets very bad and we say to," Dinah told him, rubbing his eye ridge before he settled to finish chewing the rock.

"Let's go, then," Slade said, taking point this time just to ease his instincts on the danger ahead.

Dinah followed him, more than willing to let him figure out their route down, while the fact that Chakano and Major had gone to find firestone sat heavily at the back of her mind. 

Dick slid off Shareth's back to lean against his leg on the side closest to Honshu. _You keep your ears open for them, hear me Shareth?_

 _Of course I will,_ his bronze muttered in return, _I worry, too. The little ones will tell me where to go if we need to._

 _Okay, then,_ Dick said with a quiet sigh, leaning against him a little harder. 

Shareth crooned at his rider, listening firmly to the fire-lizards and to the ones who were his rider's family.

****

Roy had gotten Duncan to start eating... a messy thing at best... when both Hope and Trouble reared up, eyes gone piercingly red and hissing, moments before they vanished. That set him firmly on edge, and he reached to Brileth for comfort.

 _The little ones defend,_ Brileth told him, agitation in his own voice. _Sickness there. Bad. Sickness... gone? Safe, all our wing._

A few minutes passed, before Brileth spoke to him again. _Shareth sends to Faranth for Sorka to help. Wants people from Fort._

Roy wanted, badly, to know what had happened, what had enraged Hope and Trouble so badly, as well as to know who Dick wanted from Fort, but the dragons weren't all that good at remembering the names of people who weren't riders, it would do no good to try to ask. _They're safe, though? Dick and Slade and Dinah?_

 _Yes,_ his brown told him, still agitated, but slowly beginning to settle. _Now they wait. Shareth goes to a warmer waiting-place, inside._

 _Okay. Just keep listening..._ Roy said, fretting, but then Duncan was decidedly done with his food, complete with a toss of the bowl to the floor. He set about cleaning up the mess, then cleaning up the toddler, and doing all he could to keep himself distracted until Brileth announced that they were returning.

_Faranth and Carenath are there, so Shareth comes here._

 _Good,_ Roy said, incredibly relieved, and he headed for the kitchen to get water and some of Rene's earliest wine poured for the three that had gone, as well as pull some meat out for the fire-lizards. His family came in the kitchen door a few moments later, and the shuttered look on Slade's face, the way Dick obviously couldn't figure out which one of them to stick closest to, the way Dinah was so closed off, froze Roy in his tracks. 

Dinah gave Slade a small push to the couch, and then crawled into his arms, burrowing against him, but more to comfort him than the other way around. Since Dinah was being that fiercely emotive at Slade, Dick was finally able to settle by going to Roy, pulling him in and holding him there as he shook slightly.

All four of their firelizards launched up to the biggest wall-mounted platform with a pillow on it, settling in a tightly curled pile, but not before Roy smelled firestone on them. 

Firestone? On a day when there wasn't Fall? What in the names of all the stars... He took a breath and just wrapped himself tight around Dick's body, sliding a hand up into his hair to hold him closer. 

"I know we were all thankful the screening was actually designed to not catch us looney toons, but to let something like that slip past? It's as bad as Bitra, even if we know she bribed her way in," Dinah growled softly, while petting on Slade. She nuzzled her husband's jaw gently. "It was only right, much as I hate that you had to."

"Yeah, I mean those kids... and the look in her eyes," Dick reassured, shuddering a little as he held onto Roy.

Roy petted down his hair again, then started backing up for an armchair, dragging Dick down into his lap on it, waiting for one of them to actually explain what in the heck was going on. 

"I thought those days were behind me. Bad enough during the Nathi war, with some humans that... could not adapt to necessary controls. But it was supposed to be over." Slade tucked his fingers into her hair, his other hand down on Dinah's hip, holding her there. She was safe, was safe even before he moved, given that Stev had forgotten or never known that Dinah was heavy-gee adapted. It still didn't help settle him any knowing it.

"So how did it happen?"

Dick's question made Dinah look over at him. "When I started asking questions, it was too much, I guess, for Stev Kimmer to handle. Because I was trying to pull answers on why the isolation had happened, didn't they know we were trying to set up trade and resources and transportation... and he attacked me."

Only Dick's weight on Roy's thighs kept him in the chair at that, and he still sat bolt-upright. "What? Di -- no wonder Hope and Trouble vanished out of here!" 

Dick, too, had sucked a sharp breath, twisting in the chair enough to check her over with his eyes, and then what those words from Slade had to mean registered and he went pale. "Slade..."

"A bunch of the wilds showed too," Dinah said. "But Slade... had it under control. I probably broke Stev's wrist, but with what we were already guessing, what we could see, his instincts to make the problem go away were the correct ones."

Slade shuddered a little, kissing her hair. "After seeing more of their home, I wish it had been more painful, for all the good that does, or what it says of me."

"Says you are a very compassionate man to those who have been hurt, to me!" Dinah informed him.

"What Dinah said, Slade," Dick said firmly, twisting enough in Roy's grip to get loose and go settle on the arm of the couch Slade and Dinah were sharing, leaning close against him. "Figured it had to be something bad, when you wanted Tom and Ju." 

Roy wasn't a couple of heartbeats behind Dick, though he took up the back of the couch so he could tuck close to them as well, his hand sliding down along Dinah's shoulder. Dinah reached up to hold onto Roy with one hand.

"Tom will be a long time working with them, I think, but the kids..." Slade paused, looked at both his amazing boys, and slowly smiled, sad but honest. "Kids heal in time. Hopefully they all will."

"It's best that we've taken care of it. Ju is going to convince them to go North for a while; they're already used to cold. They may stay there, or they may not, but she was already talking about setting up a small team to take care of Honshu until the family could decide what they really want. They had a good setup for self-preservation, so we want to keep that running for them," Dinah said. 

Dick smiled, slow and wry, and reached with his free hand to wrap his fingers around Roy's shoulder. "That sounds like a good way to handle things. Get them out of there for a while, see how they heal somewhere else, then let them make their own choice about it later. That... yeah. Good as it gets, right?" 

"For now, yes," Slade said, slowly unbunching his muscles from the knots his actions, Stev's actions, and the whole situation had made.

"We'll take it." Dinah kissed his throat gently, then closed her eyes. She was going to be haunted by those children for weeks, but Slade was right. They would heal.

"Duncan was down for a nap, and food's ready," Roy said, after a few moments. "Think y'all can eat, or should I box it for later?"

"Later," all three of them said, almost as one, and Roy slid back off the back of the couch to go do just that. He did come back with the wine, though -- in the form of the bottle and a single glass. 

Dinah looked at him, nodded, and shifted to sit up a little bit. "Here, Slade," she encouraged her husband.

He moved to match her, and let Roy hand him the glass. He downed half of it, handed the other half to his wife, and leaned against Dick for a moment. Dick squeezed his shoulder.

"We got through it, they will, and now we can relax. Faranth told Shareth we're not to come back until we're ready, or for next Fall," he told his mentor.

Dinah sipped the wine, finishing it off before she gave it to Roy for a refill. "Good thing we built dragon beds in the secondary barn?" she teased him.

"Definitely a good thing," he agreed as he poured another glass for them and stole a drink for himself before handing it back to Slade. _Bri, love, Faranth tell you we're staying?_

_Yes. Shareth and I are in the barn. It is warm and comfortable, even though there are no sands._

"Bri says he likes it, and they're apparently already curled up inside." 

"Smart dragons," Slade said quietly, and Dick nodded. 

"That they are." 

Dinah smiled at them both, then settled with her head on Slade's thigh, her feet over the arm of the couch, so he could keep touching her, and she could relax. 

"It's good to have all of you home," she added. Safe and sound was the part she did not add, as it was written in the way she could finally settle from her upset.

"Good to be home," Dick said, and Roy murmured his own agreement with her as he grabbed a cushion and sprawled full-length on the floor next to them. They were home, safe and together, and they'd done everything they could for now. 

***

It was two days before Dick felt like leaving Slade and Dinah's sides, and when he did, it was only for him and Shareth to go to Paradise Harbor. Shareth winked into reality well above the harbor, and Dick asked him to circle there while he looked at the scene below. At the end of the pier, a dolphineer -- still in flippers and mask -- was lazily sprawled on the warm silplas, hand hanging down into the water where one of the dolphins was nosing at it. Several of the smaller ships were moored along the length of it, and on the other side, the _Southern Cross_ rested at anchor. That meant Jim Tillek was back in the Southern Continent, and Dick grinned at the thought. He'd always had something of a soft spot for the captain and sailor. 

_I would like to swim,_ Shareth told him, looking down towards the warm waters of the harbor. _The dolphins are interesting._

"Just as soon as I finish looking around, sure, Sharrie. You go swim while I talk to Vic. Have fun with the dolphins." Dick said as his hand stroked down Shareth's side. Off on the east side of the river, the landing field for the sleds had several parked beside it, and all the workshop doors were open. That was where Vic would be, then. "Okay. Drop me by the workshop, love, and enjoy your swim." 

_Alright,_ Shareth agreed and dropped to the landing field, holding out one foreleg so that he could slip off easily. As soon as he was unstrapped and down, he reached out and slipped the buckles, pulling Shareth's harness off so the dragon wouldn't have wet hide rubbing against him later. Shareth took to the air again and glided for the harbor, while Dick pulled off his jacket and jogged towards the doors. 

"Watch where you put that... man, I swear if you crack one more joke, Logan, about bearings..." Vic stopped fussing at the unseen person in the corner and the other younger tech maneuvering a large wing section at realizing Dick was standing in the doorway. "You all get a reprieve; I'm on break." Vic grabbed his broad hat to prevent the sun from blinding either his cybernetic or his human eye and joined the rider. "Come on, I am _not_ staying in there if you're here."

"Bad day?" Dick asked as he picked up a stride that matched the length of Vic's legs, heading away from the workshop in whatever direction Vic seemed to think looked good.

There was a bench and table and picnic area off to the far side of the field with some of the fast growing reedy grasses casting shade over it. "I get a call to get my shop cleared to handle some kind of flier, with dimensions given but nothing else, and can I please reverse engineer the blasted thing from Governor Boll herself!" Vic flopped down on the canvas covered foam matt that was there for ground cover. "And my crew is either a bunch of jokers or fumble fingered today!"

"The thing Kenjo built?" Dick asked, blinking a little. "Oh, _that's_ going to be fun to try to transport. Damn, I don't envy the bronzes that get stuck on that one, and I am so glad I'm not home for it." 

"Why aren't you?" Vic looked him over. "You sick? One of your folks?" He reached over to lay his flesh hand against Dick's forehead jokingly, letting go of his temper. "And yeah, I was told it was coming up from Honshu. So strange that they're interacting, but I was told the family had chosen North." A little bitterness crept into his voice; the girl he had been dating was North too, when he knew he was so needed in the South. Vic didn't blame her; she was going for med sciences, and the ones who could teach had all gone north.

Dick leaned against his hand for a moment, just letting the contact with his friend sink into his still-riled emotions, then took a long glance around, making sure none of the others of the Harbor were around. "Nah, I'm alright, we're not sick. Well, Slade's still a little sideways, and Dinah is too, but I really don't blame either one of them. Not after what happened." He heard that bitter note and decided to tackle that later. 

Vic noted the look around, and checked it out with his stronger senses. "No one around closer than inside the shop," he said in a low tone. "Now... what happened? Nothing rattles your old man."

"Dinah got worried about Ito and the kids," Dick said, just as soft, and shifted a little closer. "You know how hard she's been working on the road project, and they hadn't responded to her at all, ever, except 'still alive' reports after Thread. So she and Slade called for me and Roy. We went down to talk it over, decided Roy'd keep D while I took the two of them to go visit. It's so far, they couldn't afford the time to try and overland it..."

He shrugged a little, knowing Vic would get that. "So she sent Hope to go get a good visual for Shareth -- and Hope came back **completely** freaked out of her little flitterbrained head, set the others off, and then Shareth got some sense out of her and **he** freaked. So we went. I stayed back with Sharrie while they headed in. Wasn't long, and Shareth was telling me that the fire-lizards were dealing with the problem, then Hope called." 

"Okay, you sat out an unknown situation? Worried about your dragon?" Vic asked, confused, because Dick was usually quick to press into the new, different, dangerous, and strange. "And what was it? I mean, everyone knew that family was... real throwback."

"No, Slade decided that I was _not_ going in," Dick said, half-growling the words. "And the hell of it is, with it being stake stuff, I couldn't even argue. We're trying so hard to be neutral and impartial with the stakes, just do our jobs above and stay out of it otherwise, but shit, it was hard..." 

He sucked a show breath, looking at Vic, and answered. "You remember when Kimmer disappeared?" 

"That absolute fardling son of two broken drill presses?" Vic asked. "He's involved in this?"

"Yeah," Dick nodded, filing the profanity for later. "When he took out, he went down there, and... if I'd never seen that look in a woman's eyes again, Vic, it'd have been decades too soon." 

"Damn." Vic got quiet as his brain played over that idea, before shuddering violently. "Well, always did think your winged nuisances had their uses," he said with a nod toward the fair flitting about near the shore.

"Yeah, they sure do," Dick agreed, glancing gratefully to where Chaka was diving at a dolphin's spray. "They'd been upset enough that they'd chewed firestone, and when he attacked Dinah for trying to figure out what was wrong, they attacked back. It got messy, he was dead and smouldering when I got there, and I am not asking any further." 

"Better that way, but... dude, it's gonna happen. People piss people off, and shunning is not gonna cut it for some things," Vic said, looking out over the dolphins merrily leaping a floating dragon. "We're a violent species, and got some bad seed in the mix."

"I know," Dick agreed softly, shaking his head a little. "Hate it for Slade and Di both, but... that kind of crazy, shunning'd just encourage it. The psychs took Ito and the kids North -- gotta be for the best -- and they're gonna send someone to keep the stake in decent shape until she decides what she wants to do, long-term." 

"Did she give... aww, you won't know. I really hope like heck they got permission for me to poke Kenjo's machine. It's the cause of all those rumors of a giant flying animal down near the range, I bet..." Vic, for all his griping, was looking forward to seeing what Kenjo had built to be able to fly. He was betting on an ultralight. He had already been contemplating how to make an efficient powered ultralight for personal transportation.

"I'm figuring that's what it's got to be," Dick said, shrugging a little, "and there's no way the Governor'd be planning to send it down to you if she hadn't said it was okay. And yeah, it probably is." 

"Alright, so apple in the worm, or whatever it is dad used to say about Bitra's crowd. I don't have to work til it gets here. So how 'bout just chilling out with me? Could show you the motor I'm working on for some more wheeled vehicles, runs on the raw-grade alcohol even the medics don't want."

"Sounds great -- sounds kinda like what Slade hammered out to run Dinah's wagon -- but yeah, show me," Dick managed to grin at him, curious and glad for the distraction. 

"Yeah, he sent me his blueprints, and I tinkered," Vic said, standing up to take Dick to the smaller work building on the flight-line's property. He could go on about the projects he had for hours, and knew Dick grasped it, making the chance to talk through them even better.

Dick trailed along behind him, Shareth's amusement at the dolphins and fire-lizards humming contentedly in the back of his mind, then settled in to talking tech with Vic for... however long. Didn't really matter, long as he made it back to the Caves and Roy before nightfall. 

****

_Five months later (11.5 AL, 3.5 post First Fall)_

Sorka was half-awake, drowsing on her husband's shoulder and idly stroking her hand over his chest, when a sudden flare of sensation/emotion struck her from her slowly-waking dragon. Hot and intent, half-insensate, and she sat up with a gasp, not bothering to hold the sheet against her. 

"Love?" Sean's voice came from behind her shoulder, his hand running lightly over her back. 

"Faranth," Sorka answered, arching her spine back into Sean's touch before she got out of the bed to grab a shirt and go to her queen, outside sleeping on the hot summer rock of their ledge. "Something's... different," she decided that was the only word that fit. "She feels -- "

She stopped, turning around to look at Sean, her eyes widening. "She feels like what I get from Blazer, except -- so much stronger..." 

"Blazer's bad enough," Sean snorted, his own eyes going a little wide as he reached out for his bronze. _Carenath, love... wake up._

 _What?_ Carenath asked sleepily, blinking his eyes open. 

Sean hid his smile at his bronze's drowsy tone, watching his wife. _Is Faranth... all right?_

 _Faranth is --_ his dragon's voice cut off as he swung his head towards his best friend, and he came back with a much different tone, _temperamental. I am not sure._

 _Sorka thinks she's rising,_ he told his dragon, and even from inside the weyr he could hear the sudden scrabble of Carenath's claws on the stone as his dragon was suddenly on all four paws. 

_Oh. That is... yes, she feels like Blazer,_ Carenath agreed, and Sean could feel his dragon responding to the resonance from Faranth. 

While he had been talking to his dragon, Sorka had yanked her shirt on and trotted out to her dragon, reaching out for her. _Faranth, love?_

Faranth rumbled low in her throat, her eyes opening and turning towards her rider, eyes starting to whirl with orange and teal, not a great deal of coherency in her responding mental touch. _Hungry,_ she told her rider after a few moments, stretching from nose-tip to tail-tip and through both sets of limbs and flared wings. _Don't want meat, want... want blood._

Sorka blinked in surprise, _Blood, love? Alright, then go catch a sheep,_ she answered her riled queen gently. Blazer chirred from her ledge, quietly encouraging. 

_Mmm..._ Faranth rumbled satisfaction and leapt from the ledge, her wings flashing bright as she flew towards the largest of the corrals. Sorka, standing in the opening of their cave, watched as Carenath followed her -- and other bronzes and browns lifted their heads from their ledges or stepped out of their caves, depending on which of them it was. 

"Oh dear," she heard her own voice say, just as her husband's arm wrapped around her waist, even as she watched every male dragon get to their feet. 

"What queen ever flies alone, even when we know who wins here?" Sean rumbled in her ear, as Carenath's blood warmed more toward the chase ahead of him. He wanted to touch Sorka all over, and it didn't matter a damn bit where they were, because it was all Carenath could think of doing to Faranth.

Sorka laughed, a little breathless -- and then Faranth struck the sheep, bowling it down under her so that she could rip into the throat. She could almost taste the hot blood pouring into her throat as Faranth drank, biting in to suck, draining the blood out of the ewe, her wings flaring out before she tossed the sheep away -- and promptly pounced on another, draining it, too. Sorka swallowed against the blood in her dragon's throat and then Faranth was in the air and Sorka lost track of the world in the feeling of her queen's wings beating, in the sound of her challenging call to the bronzes and browns on the ground as she flew away, using all of her speed and the span of her wings. 

Other riders were pressing in, drawn to Sorka as their dragons were drawn to Faranth. Sean hissed and growled, much as Carenath was in the air at those who got too close to him in his desperate flight after the stronger, longer-winged queen ahead of him. The pulsing need to keep tight to Sorka was all he could respond to, no matter that his dignity was falling prey to the lack of privacy.

Faranth-Sorka twisted in the air, catching a thermal to take herself higher, faster, turning her head to trumpet a challenge to the males behind her, even as Sorka-Faranth pressed back against her husband, holding close. 

Manooth was the first of the browns to give up, circling back towards the weyr, and Jerry half came back to himself, staring at the rest of the bronze and brown riders standing close to Sorka and Sean. That Sorka and Sean were both barely half-dressed, and the snarls low in Sean's throat all discomfited him quite a bit, and he turned away, looking anywhere but at them. 

_I could not catch her,_ Manooth said, quiet and dissatisfied as he backwinged to land on his own ledge. 

Jerry shook his head, starting to jog towards his dragon. _Wouldn't have wanted you to, love. Sorka's Sean's wife._

_But Faranth is a queen. She should mate the best, and you say I am the best brown..._

 _Hey now, you're still the best, but doesn't mean I want you making a billion eggs with all the queens,_ Jerry soothed, before going to cuddle his dragon.

Far above many of the browns, Carenath noted that Shareth was too close to Faranth, and gowled at the idea of any other bronze touching his queen. With a canny upswing on a thermal, Carenath got above and behind... just in place to suck the air current Shareth had been using out from under the other bronze, costing him both speed and altitude.

Shareth snarled and snapped towards Carenath, still intent on reaching Faranth's shining form, but Carenath's trick had given him the advantage and put him lengths closer to the queen. That did not best suit, but if Carenath was closest -- Polenth was too close, and Shareth backwinged to pull the same trick on the other bronze. 

Brileth was forging ahead of nearly all the rest of the browns, but Duluth was still just a little ahead of him, and that did not suit. It really wasn't that Brileth wanted Faranth for his own; he would try, because Faranth deserved the effort, but Duluth certainly didn't belong with the queen. A stretch of neck and wings put Brileth nearly parallel, and then he swerved, fouling Duluth's wings with his own.

Duluth squalled and snapped at him, both of them falling out of the chase, and then Marco was able to start coaxing his unhappy brown back to the Caves. Brileth, on the other wing, pushed to catch up with the rest of them again. Shoth and Kazeth were too close to his queen. That was bronze Firth dropping away, and satisfaction flashed through Brileth that the bronze had fallen back first. Polenth, too, was turning away. 

The riders of the spent dragons coaxed and coddled their friends as they returned, each one coming to terms with the riders still knotted around Sorka in their own manner. That Roy had pressed closer to Dick, and the two were beginning to push away any interference in Sorka and Sean's … union … didn't really surprise David as he came to his senses. He just shook his head a little and tried to figure out how to get at least Sorka and Sean inside and out of sight before Carenath caught Faranth -- he really wasn't coming up with much of anything, though, and he looked to see if Rachel was anywhere close by. 

If anyone could approach Sean and Sorka right now, it would be Rachel... where was she? Nowhere to be seen -- none of the queens were outside, he realized, a little startled -- and he sighed before he backed up enough to just lean against the wall, watching the back of Dick's head instead of anywhere near Sorka, hoping for him to come out of that incredibly tight (Impression-intense, but so different) bond with his dragon. He exchanged a wry, uneasy smile with Peter as Gilgath dropped away from the flight and Peter could turn away, waving at the other bronze rider to go ahead and get clear. He'd see what he could do. 

David's salvation came as Brileth lost all ability to keep straining after the remaining dragons, and Roy staggered, caught on instinct by Dick who was still guarding the flight-bonded pair. The redhead shook his head, then noticed where they all were, and how intensely uncaring of that fact Sean and Sorka were.

"Dick... Dick, c'mon," Roy said, knowing Brileth needed him, but refusing to leave the lovers out here. "Dick! Need you to help me get them inside!"

Roy calling got through to him, at least enough for him to turn his head and try to focus on his human partner. Far away and above, Shareth faltered for a moment, and Dick's focus cleared a little more. "Huh?" 

"Got to get them inside, mano, c'mon, before they both have to turn the color of our hair, yeah?" 

Dick blinked, then nodded and studied the pair thoughtfully. "Yeah... That wouldn't be good," he said, taking the few steps closer to Sorka he needed to catch one of her hands. Sean growled, dragging Sorka back tighter against his chest, but Sorka's eyes turned towards him -- completely unseeing, he noticed. "Sorka, come on, help me get Sean inside," he coaxed, very gently, and she let herself be pulled back inside their cave. Sean followed, and once they were out of sight Dick bolted back for the opening and past it. 

Roy gave chase, a grin on his face as Brileth told him he'd take care of Shareth... and he started looking forward to the chaos of the intensely deep bond between them all.

***

It was a late meal, as David had swung by to warn Nyassa that the male riders would probably not be up until much later. His rumpled look had had her inviting him in, and David found himself hoping that all the others had found solace like he did; it was intense to go that high into desire and not find release for it.

By the time they started trailing into the dining side of the kitchen, Terry Gabri did have a meal on, but he and Gina Keating both looked a little sheepish, neither of them quite able to look the riders coming in in the eyes. Roy and Dick both simply looked lazily amused with the world when they came in, and David did see that the other bronze and brown riders came in looking fairly calm. Not in particularly close company with any of the queenriders, but he wouldn't really have expected that. 

Sean and Sorka were the last two of them into the dining room, and David turned away to keep from laughing at the incredibly strange combination of smug satisfaction and more than faint dismay on Sean's face. He didn't see Sean open his mouth, but Roy's, "Oh, Jays no, we are _eating_ before we tackle what just happened, buddy," made it clear the Leader was contemplating something on the matter.

"Right." Sean shut up and applied himself to his food, much to Sorka's amusement. The queen rider looked around at her… family, because that was the feeling she had for them after all they had shared, pleased to see they looked healthy.

 _Everyone is well. Confused. Why?_ Faranth asked, sleepily aware of the rest, even as she twined her neck with Carenath a little more. The bronze, however, was still very much unconscious.

 _We have much to get used to, Faranth. You sometimes confuse us, and we confuse you. But we will all learn in time._ Sorka was not certain she would ever get used to the full loss of volition and privacy in this matter, but they had to be as open as they could, to not inhibit the dragons.

 _Mmm. Good flight,_ Faranth said, sleepily smug, and settled back down to drowse with her mate. 

_Yes,_ Sorka had to agree with her queen, before she settled to her own plate. 

To her relief, her dragon was soundly asleep before everyone was done with their plates, and by common consent they all moved as close to the hearth as they could get before the real discussion started. Before Sean could say anything, she glanced at each of their bronze and brown riders, shaking her head a little. "I'd say I'm sorry, but... none of us knew _that_ was going to happen. That --" 

"Was far more intense than any of the fire-lizard Flights I've been caught up in," Roy said with a grin. "I mean, I _was_ my dragon until he got shaken out of the flight."

"Yeah, really," David said. "Polenth was just... all I know, everything he saw... and definitely everything he felt," he added, smiling a little. Jerry laughed, a little nervously.

"I don't think there's anything like that!" he said.

"I don't think so either," Dick agreed, shaking his head. "It was just -- "

"Overwhelming," Sorka said, not sure if she wanted to smile or bury her face in her hands. "Really **incredibly** overwhelming. More than anything even the full fairs have ever pulled on Sean and I, and given Blazer, that's something. Just... we're going to **have** to make certain that whichever bronze --- or brown, don't think we didn't notice Brileth keeping up," she said, grinning at Roy for a moment, "catches a queen, even if it's not your usual partner, we don't hold it against each other. 

"I probably would have freaked out if anyone but Carenath had caught Faranth -- "

"Not nearly as badly as we would have!" Paul and Shih said simultaneously, with most of the guys nodding emphatic agreement. 

"Oh, jee, _thanks_ boys..."

"We didn't mean it like _that_ , Sorka! Just that we _like_ living," Shih apologized, holding his hands up, "and we might not've if one of ours had caught you." 

"I wouldn't have _killed_ any of you," Sean drawled. "But I know I was not thinking clearly at all." He gave a small grin at that, embarrassed more by the loss of control than anything. "Yes, I think fidelity in partners is going to have to be something we weigh as happening outside of flights, given what just happened."

Peter nodded, sighing out a slow breath. "That... yeah. I mean, Gilgath kept up just about to the last, and I didn't have enough sense of myself to know any reason he shouldn't..." 

Rosabelle snorted. "From what I caught the edges of? How _could_ you? That was... I don't know the words for it, and I can't imagine how much stronger it was for you, Sorka." 

"I kind of recommend not trying until it happens," Sorka said, wry and amusedly shaking her head. 

"Should be any day now," Tarrie offered up. "Yours hatched last, but likely is a little more mature, given you and Sean... you know." Tarrie grinned at her fellow queen rider, prompting giggles from some of the others.

"That very well might have something to do with it," Sean agreed after a moment's flush and another moment's thought. "Not sure, I'll see what Pol and Bay can figure out, but Faranth was earlier than any of the projections said, so... that makes sense, Tarrie." 

"I know," Tarrie said, grinning at him cheerfully. "I can't decide if I'm glad I slept through it all, or kind of disappointed I missed getting a preview of what it might be like."

"Okay, I don't want to sound like a jerk, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to. So.. nobody take a swing at me, okay?" Otto said, glancing around. "You know I'm not that great with words. But that kind of high and then the drop-off... that is _really_ going to suck for us browns before all of you girls fly." He held up his hands swiftly, trying to ward off remarks and glares. "That's not -- I don't -- it's none of your fault, just... Shoth was kind of down on himself for a little bit for not being able to catch up, and I'm a little worried about that. I think I got him convinced that it's okay, but...." 

"Hey, I get it," Roy called to him. "Bri... Brileth seemed to think he had to fly, because anything less would insult Faranth, but it wasn't really his thing." He grinned and shrugged. "Dragon and rider and all that."

"Yeah, but I think I understand," Marco said. "Duluth wanted to try, but I don't think he was as wrapped up in it as … Polenth, I think. Still was a huge let down to him to get cut off," he said, giving Roy a mock-glare, "but he was trying because he was supposed to more than because of real desire."

"Manooth sure was," Jerry told them. "And that was one helluva come-down when he dropped out."

Sean was listening, considering it all. "The dragons rise like the fire-lizards, so I think when the greens are here, it will even out. There's never supposed to be as many queens as males, but the greens are programmed to be about half the number, once all colors are clutched."

"And I think, in light of how strong it all is, I think we all just need to loosen up to the idea of partnering for comfort sake, after," Alianne offered from her normally quiet place. "I only caught the edges, but..." She snuck a glance over at Shih. "I think it's just going to need to be a part of our natural lives."

Shih dropped his eyes slightly, then looked back up at her, tipping his head to the side a little. "I'm not going to disagree, but..."

"It's going to be merry hell to get used to?" Dick said mildly, given that he didn't have a whole ton of stake in the final decision. He'd have Roy with him unless it was Roy that caught, same as Roy would have him unless he did. 

"Yeah," David said, "but... if you girls are okay with that, or we find girls that can put up with us... it'll help the dragons that don't catch settle." His ears started to flush as his gaze dropped to his hands, and Nyassa sighed softly, leaning to lay a hand on his shoulder. She wasn't entirely certain which one of them she was reassuring, but the color did start to fade back out of his ears. 

"Milath did say Polenth seemed calmer, after," she said easily, casting her eyes from queen rider to queen rider. They were going to have to be part of the solution to this, all of them. She certainly hadn't minded David's ardor, not with some of Faranth's need and pleasure washing through her own body. She also didn't mind having her fellow riders know that they'd taken care of each other. It might be harder for some of the others to reach out than it had been for her, but surely they all could, for each other's sake, and for their dragons. 

"That was the sense I received," Rachel agreed quietly, her eyes remaining steadily on Sorka as she spoke, "from everyone that was caught up in Faranth and Carenath, and found solace. The dragons settled as the riders did." 

Paul nodded. He did not sneak any glances at the rest of the riders, so it was anyone's guess who he had found. He looked steady, though, so he was obviously settled. "I think the fire-lizards were a hint of what was coming, but by and large, the dragons hit us ten times harder with it. And if anyone has... notions on fidelity or proper pairings or that kind of thing... it could go rough on the dragons if we hold back because of human 'morals'."

"We can't do that to them," Sean said, sitting up a little straighter, his blue eyes sharpening with a trace of alarm. "So we've got to be able to cope with this -- and raise the kids that're going to follow us to be able to cope with it, too. None of the younger set were old enough to rise this time, but we're going to have those kids with us by next year's flights, at the very least. Three years from now, the ones that will be eggs from this clutch will be joining in, too. So this's going to have to be part of what we teach, just as soon as their dragons are even half mature -- at least, once we figure out what seems like it works best." 

"I think we all need to think on it further," Rachel said quietly. "We all love our partners, and they are our focus. The details will sort out as we go."

"True," David said, just as relieved to not dwell on it right now. In some ways, he had been struggling with living his life ever since Lucy was lost to him. Now, having gone to bed with a different woman than the one he normally turned to, he knew he had some soul-searching to do. At the same time, he also understood Paul's concerns -- easy enough to see when you took in Roy and Dick -- that gender might not always play a part in things, if the sexual matching did not extend all the way down to the greens, and the greens were as frisky as their fire-lizard cousins.

"Agreed," Sean said, tabling the matter for now. They all had to think on it, but at least now they knew that they needed to. 

***

_(Three months later)_

Elbows-deep in breaking apart the ribcage of a wherry so that she could finish gutting it, Sorka missed the first, mild brush of Faranth's mind over hers, and even the second tug for her attention only got her to ask _What, dear?_ , still entirely distracted with her task as she broke apart another section of the ribs. With her queen heavily laden with eggs, she couldn't do some of the things she normally could, so she'd taken up cleaning the morning's take of wherry that Isaiah and his young brown Tameth had brought in. 

_I need you,_ her queen replied, her tone insistent and strengthening with every word. 

_What's wrong, love?_ Sorka asked, surprised at her queen's vehemence on a perfectly lovely day. Yes, Faranth was underground, but the carefully sheltered air vents, cut with the burners, should have been taking her enough of the fresh air to stay settled. _I'm up to my elbows in blood and bone._

_I don't care. I need you._

_Why, Faranth, love?_ Sorka asked worriedly, even as she stepped back towards the bucket of hot water waiting for her, looking for someone she could ask to take over for her. 

_Eggs._ It really wasn't often that Faranth took the tone Sorka tried hard not to use herself, the one that expressed just what she didn't think of someone else's stupidity, but when she did, it was incredibly impressively withering. Sorka realized that fact yet again, even as she shoved her hands down into the bucket, scrubbing at the copper-green ichor covering them. She spotted Nyassa and called out, "Can you deal with that wherry? It's the last one from this morning, but I've got to get to Faranth!" 

"I can. What's wrong?" Nyassa called back, already on her way in.

"Apparently she doesn't want to lay her eggs without me for some reason," Sorka replied as she decided that her hands were clean _enough_ and the sands would get any of the rest and took off. Faranth had already been below for the last week or so, eating when Carenath or Shareth -- or Brileth, when the bronzes were away -- brought her a wherry or sheep, and otherwise spending most of her time stretched out comfortably, or at least mostly comfortably, on the sands of the Hatching Ground. 

The Hatching Ground itself had been a feat of engineering that had gotten them Slade, Ozzie, and Cobber's company for several weeks while they worked out how to get access to the massive 'bubble' cavern they'd detected several dozen meters deeper into the volcano with a passage big enough for a broody queen, and then cut a new hypocaust deep enough to heat the tonnes of sand they'd hauled in with the donks in order to make a Thread-protected 'beach' for the queens to lay their clutches in. Sorka was pretty certain that without the donks' ability to haul those loads, they might all have pitched a screaming fit for one of the sleds and hell with the need to conserve the sleds' power packs. _I'm coming, Faranth, dear,_ she promised, running down the glow-lit tunnel without any of her usual care for the slope of it. 

_Hurry._

The rock around her felt like it was beginning to thrum, and Sorka realized that the other dragons were growing aware of the impending clutch. It wasn't a hatching-hum, but the various winged denizens of the caves were definitely welcoming the eggs. Booted feet began to echo behind her, telling her that Sean had probably been informed of the event, and Blazer and half the fair swooped over her head. 

_I am, darling, but I can only run so fast,_ Sorka pointed out. It wasn't that much longer before she was out into the electric-bright light of the Hatching Ground, and she ignored the heat of the sands underfoot -- her boots were enough protection, anyway -- to go to her queen. "Here I am, Faranth-love..."

 _Good. Now I can do this,_ Faranth told her, before rearing up and producing the first egg. It was a mottled and leathery looking thing that she immediately moved, piling warm sand around it to let it harden. She had waited entirely long enough, was the impression Sorka received, even as Sean was crossing the sands, Dick on his heels.

"Of course you can, you beautiful, wonderful queen," Sorka said, watching her queen in faint amazement -- she'd seen Blazer lay, and so many of the other fire-lizard queens, but to see Faranth doing it... That was something entirely different. Her queen was laying, soon there would be more dragons to protect Pern, and that made her queen's act even more precious. "What a lovely egg it is, too." She half-turned, pressing into her husband's arms. 

"Isn't it lovely?" she demanded of both of them, then more running feet hit her ears before Roy came into sight. 

"About as ugly as they always are from Blazer," Sean said, receiving an immediate hiss and flare of wings from Faranth and and smack in the shoulder from Dick.

"It's proportionately big enough," Dick said, after a moment to look at the egg and the queen. "And the texture looks right, for just … WHOA, that looked painful," he blurted as the second egg was produced.

 _It does not hurt,_ Faranth said, rather grumpily, _I_ told _you that having young should not hurt._

Sorka couldn't help but laugh as she leaned against Sean, watching her queen move and pile sand around that second egg. How she knew exactly what to do, all on her own, Sorka had no idea, but she was incredibly grateful for it. "Faranth says it does not hurt and she told us it shouldn't." 

"Trust _your_ queen, Sorka," Roy said with an amused snort, hanging back away from them at Faranth's sudden, sharp swing of her head his direction and a rake of her claws through the sand. Why he was the one getting the edge of Faranth's temper, he wasn't certain, but he wasn't about to push at their first laying queen. If Faranth wanted him to hang back, he just would. 

"She's got it all under control, love," Sean said in Sorka's ear, able to relax as they shared this moment with just Dick and Roy. Soon, the others would come, once the myriad chores were done, but for now, it was just their family there to see this. Well. Their family and their fire-lizards, he had to amend his thought as Blazer and all of hers found places to perch around the cavern. They were humming in their high, sweet voices, the cavern's roof picking it up and echoing with it. 

"Going to be closer to the upper limit," Dick said, judging the bulges and the fact Faranth was already putting the third one in another pile of sand.

"Well, given how long that flight was," Roy said, mildly teasing Sorka. "She just has to be ambitious -- can't imagine where she gets it..." 

Sorka laughed, shaking her head. "That's Sean's influence..." she teased right back, and her husband didn't deny it. To anyone that knew him as well as his wife and closest friends did, it was obvious that he was watching those eggs, seeing the future, and planning. Dick caught Roy's eye, and they both shook their heads, but it _was_ tangible hope.

Carenath walked in, Shareth not terribly far behind him and Brileth just off his shoulder, humming deep and low in their throats as they settled onto the sands near the entrance to the Grounds. Faranth's wings beat for a moment, her head swinging protectively over her eggs, and Carenath looked back at her, his eyes whirling slow flashes of deep blue and green. Neither Sorka or Sean heard anything, but Faranth settled back to the process of laying. 

"What are you three doing down here?" Sean asked, turning just enough to look at them, and Shareth's wings shifted in a blatant shrug. 

_Faranth will say go if she wants us to,_ Brileth pointed out to all of them, still humming. _She has not said, and we should be here._

"They're ours too," Sorka said softly.

"True," Sean said, relaxing as he watched Faranth dealing with her eggs. "Well, let's see how long the laying takes," he added, checking his watch, and adding the minutes since he'd become aware of it. He couldn't wait to share this call with Pol and Bay.

***

One day, Pol thought sleepily as he heard the ring of the incoming comm in their front room and rolled out of bed to go and answer it, he would get used to calls at ridiculous hours. Not that he had in all the years he'd worked in various labs, but surely he would eventually. As he got his feet onto the floor and got moving, he could hear Bay starting to wake up, but as usual, he moved more quickly. He also slept more lightly, in Bay's defense. "H'lo?" he said into the comm, settling down with it. 

"Tried to wait til closer to your morning," Sean's gruff voice came over the line, a hint of that defensiveness still there despite the time spent partnered to Carenath. "Have some news for you and Bay."

"Sean?" Sean calling was always reason to wake up, and Pol shook his head sharply to clear it. He put one hand over the pickup and half-turned around. "Bay, it's Sean!" 

"Who else, at this hour?" Bay's voice was affectionate, if a little slurred by not being entirely awake. 

Pol half-smiled and took his hand away from the pickup, talking to Sean again. "What is it, what's going on? Is everyone all right? And don't worry about the hour, we're just pulling late shift tonight so we were sleeping in." 

"Fine." Sean actually smiled on his end. "You know that round estimate you gave us for a full clutch of eggs?"

"We said our best guess was ten to twenty, yes -- wait, Faranth clutched? Has it been three months already?" Pol had to think, counting backwards from when they'd caught a sled carrying livestock north to feed Fort so they could help Mar with his latest problem. There were so many different species in the colder Northern Continent that still needed the attention of xenobiologists -- and he was not awake if his mind was going so many different directions. Sean and Faranth. Eggs from one of the dragons, not altered by the team of vet staff... oh, that was wonderful news. "Never mind that, what's making you so amused?" 

"Well, your count was a little low," Sean said, his voice the particular kind of slow and easy that Pol had long-since learned meant he was incredibly amused and pleased by something. "Faranth gave us thirty. Took her less than an hour to lay them all, set them in nice piles of sand with some space, and then tear up a sheep."

"What?" 

Bay was at his shoulder, tapping impatiently on his collarbone, and he swiveled around enough to look up at her. "Sean says Faranth laid thirty eggs," he repeated, hearing his own incredulous tone too late to do anything about it. His partner's eyes went satisfyingly wide, and he got up so that she could settle into the chair and steal the comm away. 

"Really Sean?" Bay asked, and she smiled a moment later. "Yes, of course Pol could tell me, but I would rather hear it from you or Sorka." 

"Well, give me a minute, and I'll put her on. She keeps saying they're pretty and all I see is a bunch of leathery, mottled balls that are anything but," Sean admitted, before walking out to where Sorka was and passing the comm set off.

Bay couldn't help laughing softly at Sean's blunt honesty, shaking her head a little as she waited for Sean to reach Sorka. 

Sorka blinked at Sean having the comm handset in his hand before he said, "Here's Sorka, Bay," and held it out to her. She took the handset, cocking a brow at him. "Morning, Bay -- isn't it still early where you are? Or did you make it back to Southern and haven't come to see us yet?" 

"Oh how I wish!" Bay was so sincere in that. "No, still up here, trying to figure out the answer to the latest problem. Now tell me all about the eggs! How is Faranth?"

"She's much better now that she isn't full of eggs," Sorka said with a laugh in her throat. "Just as soon as she was certain that she was done laying and that the rest of us would make certain nothing happened to her eggs, she nearly raced out of the tunnel to go stretch her wings! 

"As to the eggs -- none of them have that shimmer that Faranth's own shell did, so I don't think there's a queen -- but they all look correctly sized and healthy. All _thirty_ of them, Bay!" 

"My oh my, how on Pern are we going to find you enough young people of the right ages? They do seem a little more discriminating, going by the way the last six shuffled around to find matches among the young men and women we offered them." Bay was racking her brain, wondering how many family lines had tested for latent empathic ability before coming here.

"I wish I knew, Bay," Sorka answered, her voice lowering with concern. "Someone at Admin should have the old test results, right? I know that's one of the factors you checked to decide who got onto the sands with us... but we've already put kind of a dent in the highest results, haven't we? I guess we bring in a boy and a girl per egg, just in case, and _pray_ Kit didn't mess with the greens too!" 

"Other than inhibiting fertility!" Bay said fervently. "We can't handle that many eggs at all!" She laughed softly. "No matter how Sean would love to blanket every fall with fighting dragons."

"Well, true," Sorka said, mouth curving with amusement. "To everything you said, even. I meant hopefully the greens will take female riders."

Bay snorted. "The more I think on it, the angrier I get that she felt it necessary to rigidly enforce gender roles at all. We're supposed to be a modern society after all!"

"I'm so glad you're on our side about that," Sorka half-muttered, shaking her head. "We are, and its not like it would have hurt any of us girls to have a bronze or the boys a queen -- Sean's gotten along just fine with Blazer all this time, just like I have with Duke!" 

The xenobiologist sighed. "We'll just have to see how it translates down through the generations. But I will get right on seeing how many young people of the right qualifications there are." 

"Thank you, Bay. And anyone that doesn't Impress this time, well, Amalath should be laying in the next few weeks, we can try them again with her clutch if they want." She paused for a moment, and then simply had to tell Bay more about the entire thing. "Faranth did such a wonderful job with her eggs, she shifted them straight into sand-piles to keep them good and warm, and she's shifted them into a fairly compact nest now!" 

"Oh that's a marvelous sign the instincts are unimpaired. Though it will be interesting at Hatching... will the need to bond to a human make her open the nest, or will she try to enclose it so they imprint on their own kind? Of course we'll be praying for the first, but if the second happens, we'll have to find some way to correct it," Bay warned.

Sorka gasped, her breath catching. "I hadn't even thought of that.... oh, that would be terrible. I'll see what I can do to convince her against that, if I get any hints of it from her," she promised. The thought of losing even one of the clutch do to her queen's instincts was horrifying. She was trying to keep that thought away from her soaring queen, though -- no sense at all in having Faranth made unhappy by a 'maybe'. 

"Mentasynth worked and bred true... though yes, I've heard of the sports some of the hunters keep finding. We'll have to hope for the best with all that was done," Bay said firmly.

"Yeah. That's all we really can do," Sorka agreed, with a sigh. "Anything else on your mind, Bay? Anything you need to know?" 

"How are _you_ and should we annotate any of your reactions?" Bay asked, half as a friend, and half as a scientist.

"We called you after the flight, didn't we?" Sorka asked, just to make certain she was remembering correctly, and waited for Bay's answer. 

"Yes, but first impressions versus deliberate remembrance are two different sets of notes," Bay said with an amused laugh. "Anything to add? Especially from your perspective of Faranth's state of being?"

Sorka hummed thoughtfully for a moment, tapping her fingers against the handset. "She very badly wanted me with her before she started to lay. She didn't agree with Dick that it hurt -- she said very firmly that it didn't and having young isn't supposed to... Then she was very happily busy arranging her eggs in the part of the sands she took for her nest." 

"Oh very good." Bay was smiling and it came through in her voice. "If you need anything... not that I don't doubt your Southern stakes aren't taking good care of you... let me know. I'll do anything I can for all of you."

"We know, Bay. Thank you," Sorka said. "See you when you get down here," she added, waiting for a moment before she hung up. 

***

_(14 years from Landing, 6 years from First Fall)_

The queens had begun rising between their two and a half to three years old period, which meant that now the Caves had a nearly staggering number of late teens and younger dragons. There were far more than they had first expected when they were drawing up the plans for expanding the cave system, but no-one had quite known how many eggs every queen would clutch with. The answer had required overhauling every bit of structure the Southern Continent had been slowly building. 

That the queens rising -- not Faranth, who had been the first to rise, months before any other queen, but others-- had not soon resulted in tragedy was only thanks to Rachel. The Beltrae-touched queen-rider had been the only one who had realized what was happening quickly enough to push the queen riders to take their dragons away when Singlath, Porth, and Lutenth had all gone into their cycle on top of each other at nearly the three-Turn mark. Several of the queens had risen before then, but none of them at the same time. 

That awful, exhausting day had been when they discovered that, despite how communal and affectionate the dragons -- especially dragons from the same clutch -- usually were with each other, when the queens began to rise, they would **not** share their bronze and brown followers with another queen. That was a trait they had not expected to have transfer through intact from the fire-lizards, and one that could so easily have lost them their dragons. From that day on, the queen riders carefully watched their golds for the beginnings of abnormal sleep and feeding patterns that would lead to an unusual level of shine in their hides, so that none of them could become combative again. The queens would, at least, lay on the same sands if they clutched at the same time, but no-one ever wished to see another fight like that one. 

Those three clutches had all been small -- but at least they had happened -- and the eggs had all hatched successfully. That was a little better than Pol and Bay, and even Sean and Sorka, had really been hoping for, given the need of the queen-riders to control their dragons through the dragon-lust and take them _between_ and away from each other. Even that sudden blast of shocking cold and sensory deprivation had not been enough to stop the queens' ardor. Scattering the nine bronzes and browns three ways had made for.... interesting situations on the ground, but they had managed to come through it fairly well. Catherine and Peter, to everyone's surprise -- including theirs -- were even building a stable partnership out of the aftermath of Singlath and Gilgath twining necks. 

In the final tally of the clutches, between the ten queens -- each of whom had laid between the thirty of Faranth's first clutch and the fourteen of Lutenth's original clutch -- they had had just over two hundred dragonets in the first set of hatchings. Thankfully, most of those hatchings had been stretched out over nearly eight months (barring those three that had been nearly simultaneous), giving them just enough time to recover from the demands of one infant clutch before the next one hatched. 

It had taken nearly every resource the original riders and the Southern Continent had to house that many new-hatched dragons (and their riders), and Dick, Sean, Sorka, Nyassa, and Roy had found themselves in fairly close contact with Paradise Harbor and the dolphins and dolphineers there just to keep them fed. With Threadfall hitting so regularly, there was no way that the adult dragons could possibly bring in enough wherry to feed them, and the Gallianis and Logorides did not have their herds of cattle and sheep built up anywhere near enough head to supply that demand. Both ranchers were now breeding every cow and ewe they had, seeing the sheer amount of need coming, but it would be years yet before they were up to feeding that many. And unlike the dragons, where they spent three months gestating and four to five weeks of the eggs maturing on the sands, gestation still stretched to nine-plus months for cattle, though the five months for sheep and the flocks' proximity to the equator made them a slightly better choice. A sheep would feed a weyrling dragon for a day, while a cow would feed at least three -- if it was separated out before the weyrlings reached it. A couple of wherry would feed a weyrling for a day as well, and enough fish could do the same. 

Their support staff had -- at first -- been primarily built out of family members of the original riders, and often a teen who came to Impress wound up with younger siblings that could be useful there coming along to the Caves as well, on the likelihood they would also Impress in time. The sheer need of people for the kitchens (in order to feed two-hundred-plus dragonriders and the support staff) had expanded the population more, and Leonid was hard-pressed to keep up with the demands of both his riders and the greater continent. Rachel's empathic gift was definitely coming in as a strong asset for their group, both in telling who was likely to Impress and in other fashions. While Sorka had a knack with people, Rachel could sense the complications that easily arose from so many people living tightly together, and had a gift for defusing the situations. Even though Sorka stayed incredibly busy as the first of their Weyrwomen (a term that had come about late one night when Rosabelle objected -- strenuously -- to the joking term 'Cavewoman'), she had enough people around her now to have her own children there in the Caves, especially important as Mick now had a little brother.

Care and teaching of the first thirty of the hatchlings, the ones from Faranth's first clutch, had been split evenly between the twenty original riders (minus Sean, who already had too many headaches to be able to also provide enough support for newly hatched dragons and their bewildered riders) and their first six younglings -- by then well over a year and flying well, though still not capable of flaming or flying against Thread -- in ones and twos. Two weeks later, with Amalath's twenty-three more eggs (one of those a queen) on the sands of their carefully-constructed hatching ground under the caves, none of them had been entirely sure that they could deal with another two infant dragons and new teenagers apiece. Badly in need of a single word to express the concept of un-flighted dragon-pairs, late one night Nora had babbled out 'weyrlings', and the term had stuck fast within mere days. 

That second clutch had, for better or for worse, coincided with Paul and his brown Kazeth taking a bad set of scores in Threadfall over Ierne Island. Too badly injured to fly and intent on remaining as useful as possible, Paul and Kazeth had taken up the task of watching over the youngest weyrlings, with the assistance of the half dozen just-two-year old dragons and riders. They had been flying Falls for about six months by then, but Sean had -- unwillingly and unhappily -- decided that providing for and taking care of the youngest dragons was a little more important, in the short-term, than six more bursts of flame added to his ten males from the first clutch. Isaiah Crockett and his brown Tameth showed something of a gift with the weyrlings, along with Ryuko Orsono and his bronze Vizanth. Jack Athpathis and Cody Driscoll, riders of brown Nideth and bronze Yetenth, had quickly proven to have very little ability with the weyrlings, but they were both very early fliers. The trick of going _between_ came to them easily, long months before they had even chewed firestone. Thus, no matter how much Sean had intended for the dragons to never again carry anything but firestone, their riders, and necessary passengers, Jack and Cody had become invaluable parts of the Caves' supply chain, teleporting between Paradise River, Omaha, and the ranching stakes of Thessaly and Roma and bringing back nets of food.. Mal Duncan and his brown Rimaneth split duties between helping teach the weyrlings and flying in supplies, while Tommy Lorenzo and his bronze Jialeth tried valiantly to help prepare enough quarters for the weyrlings -- more of whom were underfoot nearly every month -- and help anywhere else they were needed. Frequently that was with Paul and the weyrlings, and Tommy was often heard muttering how glad he was he had plenty of siblings for practice. 

Unlike the dragons produced directly from the Eridani equations, the eggs Faranth and Amalath had lain had hatched out heavily weighted towards the blues and greens, as well as browns. A very few bronzes had broken shell in those first two clutches, and the one queen of Amalath's, as though the queens, or the eggs themselves, had known what colors were unrepresented in the Caves. The large amount of greens was both a relief and a worry for all of the eldest riders, none of whom were certain which way Kitti Ping had gone with the greens, though there was nothing they could do about it until the greens were nearly a year and a half old. Thus they had all tried to put it out of their minds until it was time for them to actually chew firestone and test. 

Chereth's first clutch, a respectable twenty eggs, with one of those another queen, hatched barely a month after Amalath's, had been more evenly split between the colors, in what most of them were willing to take as a good sign. Hallath's twenty-five eggs and yet another of those a queen egg, laid almost as the clutch before hers were Impressing, the product of a mating flight that had stretched out nearly the length of Faranth's, had given them the first clues that the longer and higher a flight was, the more eggs would come from the flight. Jessie had intended to keep Hallath low, but her headstrong queen had ignored her in order to challenge the bronzes and browns, and her clutch had resulted in twenty-five eggs, and one of those a queen. The next queen -- queens -- to rise had been the three at once, and their smaller clutches of fourteen to sixteen had been something of a blessing to everyone. 

Tenneth, Milath, and Chamuth had all risen in two-week intervals just past the three-year mark, and each of them had laid between twenty and twenty-three eggs. Tenneth and Chamuth both had thrown queen eggs in their clutches, as well. Milath's clutch had hatched out half brown, making more than a few of the seniors comment 'like rider, like hatchlings?' because of Nyassa's uncanny ability to be support for Sorka. Once those clutches had hatched, the elder riders had just really begun to breathe sighs of relief that things might settle down for a little while when Faranth had risen again -- just after her first clutch had begun their first flying lessons. And the rest of the queens had followed in her wake, rising again over the next seven months.

It only took a year and a half, they had decided, for a dragon to be mature enough and strong enough to fly Fall. Those younger ones only flew a part of each one, swapped out for fresher dragons to keep from overtaxing their young partners. It wasn't until a dragon's second full year that they would be allowed to graduate to full fighting wings, and even then the blues and greens could only fly a portion of any Fall. They didn't have the stamina for full Fall, but made extremely effective fighters as long as they were traded out.

Wing structure, as they called each unit within the flight of the dragons, was usually a bronze with two brown seconds, though occasionally another bronze rode second, not confident enough to lead a full wing himself. Or, in the case of the Weyrleader and his Wing/Weyrsecond, where Sean knew that he had to have Dick and Shareth to take over leadership of the Wing when he needed to devote all of his attention to leading the full Weyr. Under these two, would be one or two other browns, at most, and the rest were blues and greens. The queen riders, however, had a more fluid structure to their wings, as some would be out due to their partner being egg-heavy, or their skills being needed at the Caves, or diplomacy with the stakes. Some queen riders were more adept at the Falls than others, but it all evened out with how much went into keeping things working smoothly.

With the queens proving their fertility at that staggering rate, Sean had been able to begin flying full falls, Edge to Edge, but he still kept their efforts confined to inhabited regions. He was planning for when they had enough dragons to spread out over the continents, always looking for likely places to start expanding out, but he had a rough estimate of at least ten years into the Pass, at worst, before he'd absolutely have to break his group out under other leaders. Though if the queens kept rising at the rate they were, there was no way that it would take more than three before sheer need for space pushed them to separate. 

And through it all, Pern's colonists continued to breed animals and themselves, with the South still inhabited by the heartier stock willing to face the dangers of Thread, and the North belonging to those specialists that were not as certain of their survival skills. At least in their younger generation, Sorka was seeing signs of adaptation to Pern, and her own father had cause to regret moving North. He had his own plan, a plan that centered on Sean getting at least some dragons permanently installed in Fort's overshadowing caldera.

The beginnings of a working society were planted, with agrarian holdings in the fertile south, and technical specialization up at the Fort, all under the completely neutral protection of the dragonriders.

`~`~`~`~`


End file.
